Stepahnie, what you write has value, but it glosses over the fact that there are millions, yes, millions, of your fellow citizens who HAVE behaved in a very prudent risk averse manner, and they are going to get hammered along with everyone else, and policies which exacerbate the exposure the risk averse to hammering caused by the behavior of the imprudent/mendacious discourages prudent risk averse behavior in the future.

"In the case George W. Bush, the American system has obviously failed -- tragically -- about which we can talk more in a minute. But imagine the difference in our worldview today, had the institutions -- particularly of government -- done their job to insure that a mendacious and dangerous president (as has since been proven many times over, beyond mere assertion) be restrained in a war that has killed thousands of American soldiers, brought turmoil to the lives of millions, and constrained the goodwill towards the United States in much of the world."